Summary: In testimony before a House subcommittee, GAO discussed its evaluation of the draft registration program and the degree to which young men are not registering. For the 3 years in which some form of draft registration has been required, GAO found that: (1) 93 percent of those young men required to do so have registered; (2) some of this early success is due to the surge in registration that occurred early this year as a result of publicity and the no-prosecution grace period; (3) current registration rates are falling below the 93 percent level; (4) there have been no major problems in the manner in which the registrations have been organized and conducted; and (5) a total of 700,000 young men have failed to register to date. Lack of knowledge about the registration requirement is only one of several possible causes for widespread failure to register. Other possible reasons are that the nonregistrants: (1) think that they will not get caught; (2) see older peers who were not required to register and are resentful; (3) know others who had not registered and were not penalized; and (4) plan to register only if the country is threatened. GAO and the Selective Service System (SSS) are concerned with countering the problems of nonregistration, and GAO believes that actions other than prosecution may be necessary. SSS officials suggested the following alternatives for raising compliance: (1) adding paid advertising to existing free public service advertising; (2) increasing the number of registration locations by adding high schools, Federal employment offices, and private sector personnel offices to post offices; (3) registering people through the use of existing Government computer files; (4) registering only those in the prime age zone either with continuous or one-time registration; and (5) increasing the enforcement effort.
